‘Logan’ director James Mangold would be ‘startled’ if Hugh Jackman returned as Wolverine

James Mangold doesn't think Hugh Jackman will return as Wolverine (Image by 20th Century Fox)

James Mangold, the director of The Wolverine and the writer and director of Logan, would be startled if Hugh Jackman returned as the beloved superhero.

There has been endless speculation about Jackman’s future as Wolverine ever since the release of Logan. Even though he died at the end of the film and the Australian has always insisted that he has no interest in returning.

That didn’t stop ComicBook.com asking Mangold about the chances of Jackman returning as Wolverine, especially since Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox means that the X-Men would be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe this time round.

“I’d be startled that Hugh was strapping it on again,” was Mangold’s response, before he then began to hypothesise about the situation where Jackman would actually return.

“I would have no qualm about it if someone had a good idea. If it's basically, 'I ran out of money and I needed a big paycheck, and I'm doing an empty film that cheapens the quality of the previous.' Well, that would be its own sadness.”

Mangold didn’t stop there, though, as he added, "The reality is that, if you have a good idea for a character, then there's nothing wrong with doing anything. I don't make these rules.”

“For me, I'm always just asking that someone do something imaginative that doesn't just seem like you're taking all these assets and throwing them on a screen again, just to make dough. That seems to me to be, or to satiate a kind of hunger people have to see more, when the hunger they have to see more is what a movie supposed to leave you with.

“Meaning that you're supposed to love the characters and that just like a good meal, there is such a thing as too much. Just because it tastes good, if I keep filling your plate, at some point you're going to be like that guy in the restaurant in the Monty Python movie. There's just a limit."